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| Arthur Beaumont |
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| American, 1877-1956 |
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| “Springtime in the Garden” |
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| Oil on canvas Signed lower right 25 x 35 inches Framed: 34 x 39 inches |
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| Although Arthur Beaumont was not an American citizen by birth, he felt deep love and respect for his adopted country. His classical training as an artist and his fascination with the sea and the vessels which sail upon her led Beaumont into an association with the U.S. Navy which lasted nearly five decades. The relationship began in the early 1930s, when he was commissioned to paint formal portraits of several Naval Officers, including Vice Admiral William D. Leahy. Leahy suggested that Beaumont paint studies of the Fleet for the Navy. At once Beaumont recognized the opportunity to record history and to create fine works of art simultaneously, as Henry Reuterdahl (1871-1925) had done for the Navy during World War I. Thus his art acquired purpose and meaning, allowing him to express creatively the patriotism evoked by his adopted land. Educated at home by a governess/tutor until he was nine or ten years old, Arthur entered the Holt School, aspiring to become an architect. He dreamt of building castles like those nestled in the English countryside. However, architecture requirements proved too stringent and engineering classes too difficult for a student poor in math. He was graduated from Holt in 1908 with a baccalaureate degree and a yearning for adventure. Arthur Beaumont devoted much of his life to documenting the history and valor of the U.S. Navy. Born in England, he traveled to Canada at age eighteen to work on a horse ranch in Saskatchewan. A year later, he moved to Oakland, California, and enrolled at the San Francisco School of Art. After one year's study, he returned to ranch work as a cowboy in the San Joaquin Valley. When seriously injured in an encounter with cattle rustlers in 1915, he moved to Los Angeles to resume painting. By 1919, Beaumont had married the former Dorothy and had established his own commercial art studio. In 1921 he enrolled at the Chouinard School of Art and took classes with modernist Stanton MacDonald-Wright (1890-1973). He received a scholarship from Mrs. Chouinard in 1925, closed his commercial studio, and went to Europe to further his art education at the Academie Julian, the Academie Colarossi and at La Grande Chaumiere. He returned to Los Angeles in 1927, and took a teaching position at Chouinard. The great turning point in Beaumont's career came in 1932, when he painted the first of three famous portraits of Admiral William D. Leahy. From then until 1977, Beaumont served as the Official Artist of the U.S. Navy. In 1941, the National Geographic Society selected Beaumont to paint "Ships That Guard Our Ocean Ramparts," a series of paintings of battleships, destroyers and other naval vessels, many of which are included in the Beaumont Gift to the Irvine Museum. The project was published in the September issue, barely three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The tremendous popularity of these painting prompted the National Geographic Society to commission Beaumont to paint a similar series on the U. S. Army, which were published in 1942. In 1943, Beaumont served on the citizens committee that raised $40 million to build the cruiser U.S.S. Los Angeles. His paintings and posters of the proposed ship were used in the fundraising drive and accounted for over $1,500,000 of the money raised. Throughout the war, Beaumont's paintings of the ships and crews were instrumental in shaping the public's view of the gallantry and determination of the U.S. Navy. After the war, Beaumont recorded the testing of the hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll. These remarkable paintings were exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and sent on a nation-wide tour. Several of these extraordinary paintings are now in the Irvine Museum collection as part of the Beaumont Gift. In 1957, Beaumont was the Official Artist in the U.S. Navy Arctic Expedition. He painted the North Polar Ice Cap and was one of only a few people to complete the fabled "Northwest Passage" from the Pacific to Atlantic Oceans aboard the U.S.S. EI Dorado. Three years later, he painted at the South Pole as the Official Artist for Operation Deep Freeze. Moving about in the perilous landscape, Beaumont fell through a snow bridge into a crevasse and narrowly escaped death before rescue by a captain of the New Zealand Navy. In 1967, he and Dorothy moved to Leisure World, in Laguna Hills, California. He continued to paint aboard a number of Navy ships and exhibited his works throughout the country. In 1964, Beaumont was bestowed the Meritorious Public Service Citation, the highest civilian award by the U.S. Navy, for his service as "a distinguished marine artist." Arthur Beaumont died at his home on January 23, 1978. Exhibitions 1931 Pales Verdes, California, Pales Verdes Art Association; Long Beach, Long Beach Art Association 1932 Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, Friday Morning Club; San Diego, Balboa Park Art Gallery; Long Beach, Long Beach Art Association 1933 San Francisco, Gumps Gallery; Los Angeles, Biltmore Salon 1934 Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution, The National Gallery of Art; Newport, Rhode Island, Gushing Memorial Gallery; NewYork, MacBeth Gallery; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Chicago, O'Brien Gallery; Los Angeles, Los Angeles Art Association; Los Angeles, Ebell Art Salon 1935 Los Angeles, Museum of History, Science, and Art, Academy of Western Painters; Los Angeles, Francis Webb Galleries 1936 Pales Verdes, California, Palos Verdes Art Gallery, Academy of Western Painters; Los Angeles, California Art Club 1937 LosAngeles, Museum of History, Science, and Art, California Art Club Exhibit; Los Angeles, Friday Morning Club; Los Angeles, International Aeronautical Art Exhibit 1939 Clearwater, California, Clearwater Junior High School; San Francisco, Golden Gate International Exposition; Palm Springs, California, Palm Springs Art Gallery; Palos Verdes Estates, California, The Public Library and Art Gallery and The Community Arts Association 1940 Los Angeles, State Building, Exposition Park; Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Art Association; San Francisco, Golden Gate International Exposition 1941 Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Art Association 1942 Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum; Exposition Park Philadelphia, Philadelphia Water Color Club 1943 Washington, D.C., National Geographic Society; Los Angeles, Los Angeles Art Association; San Diego, Fine Arts Gallery 1946 Washington, D.C., The National Gallery of Art; Pasadena, Stever Art Gallery 1947 Long Beach, Allen Center, Officer's Club; Eaglerock, California, Occidental College; Glendale, California, Glendale Art Association; Pales Verdes, California, Pales Verdes Art Gallery (Retrospective); NewYork City, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Under Auspices of Joint Task Force One) 1955 San Francisco, DeYoung Museum; Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Art Association 1957 Arctic, Bering Sea, on board the USS Eldorado; Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Art Association 1960 Christ Church, New Zealand, New Zealand Antarctica Society; Buenos Aires, Argentina, Buenos Aires Art Gallery; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rio De Janeiro Gallery; Oxnard, California, Oxnard Art Association 1961 Annapolis, U.S. Naval Academy; Seattle, Seattle Historical Society Museum 1962 Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Art Association 1963 Newport News, Virginia, The Mariners Museum Chicago, Museum of Natural History; Long Beach, Long Beach Art Museum 1964 Monterey, California, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School 1966 Santa Ana, Charles Bowers Memorial Museum 1972 Long Beach, Queen Mary Museum 1975 Cheno Valley, California, Edward Dean Museum of Decorative Arts, Riverside County Art Cultural Center (Retrospective) 1976 Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Museum of Art (Retrospective) 1982 San Pedro, Los Angeles Maritime Museum 1984 San Pedro, Los Angeles Maritime Museum 1988 Long Beach, Long Beach Art Association; Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, USS Arizona Memorial 1989 Laguna Beach, Laguna Art Museum; San Pedro, Los Angeles Maritime Museum |
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